Sword Art Online II – 07

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“Sorry, I’m only into traps”

…Or whatever Kirito is.

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So this seemed to be the “Kirito gets comforted by his harem” episode after the trauma that Death Vader put him through. Surprisingly, Asuna didn’t do a whole lot towards this, but instead it was the sexually harassing nurse character. Something just didn’t quite sit right with me in the “People remember things because they shouldn’t be forgotten” “But I’m upset because I forgot” “Oh. Well you’ll remember eventually then” conversation (yes, there was more to it than that). It was interesting to see the nurse tell Kirito that she can’t shoulder his burden or make it better though instead of sugar coating things. It’s a true enough statement, and hopefully Kirito is over this occasion of emotional trauma now. After all, he did kill to save other’s lives. That probably counts for something. And hey, if not, it conveniently gives him something in common with Shino that they can bond over.

The other half of the episode was kind of surprising in that a SAO heroine actually has a love interest (ish) who’s not a Kirito or creepy asshat out to tentacle rape her / keep her in a cage. …Yet, at least. She’s probably going to fall for Kirito anyways at some point, thus making the other guy obsolete (unless he does something else to take him out of the plot). Though Shinkawa does have some things going for him, being the son of a hospital director (which means he has money), and he saved her in real life, so it’s not like he’s a complete loser compared to Kirito. It would be interesting to see if he doesn’t end up secretly being an asshat and if his relationship with Shino could work out. Obviously it’s one sided feelings now, but its going to be kind of sad to see Shino find out that Kirito already has Asuna (if she does fall for him).

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However, Shino seems to have Kirito on the mind. Hell, he’s already accomplished a lot in pissing her off so much that she’s okay with holding her hand in the vague shape of a gun. Since she freaked out so much over Generic Girl Bully A doing the same thing back in an earlier episode, I imagine that Shino would have had trouble doing that before. Things will probably only improve from here while the two bond over the shared trauma of having murdered people.


Ahh, as much as I’m hoping Shino can find a guy outside of Kirito to maybe balance out the cast more, I can’t see it actually happening. Kirito being the all powerful protagonist aside, he’s also doing things for Shino’s mental issues, which generally counts for more than what Shinkawa is doing in shounen series. But I guess the up side to this episode is that Kirito is (hopefully) over being stressed out over killing people through a video game so he can go back to denying that Death Gun is killing people through video games.  It was surprising that Asuna didn’t have more to do with this, considering how she’s usually Kirito’s support. But in this case, it seems like it was the fact that his murders directly or indirectly kept her alive that helped Kirito with his problems.

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So now that’s over with, time for more gun fights. With swords.

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University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
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21 Responses to “Sword Art Online II – 07”

  1. Cybersteel says:

    Nurse Akki <3

    • skylion says:

      Oh, just like HWY says below, older women do love to tease handsome young men. It’s pretty much all they can do.

      And, second time in the show that Kirito shows some manservice and he still looks like a gooey Ken doll.

  2. anaaga says:

    Of course Shion would fall for Kirito. Which girl wouldn’t fall for his virtual ability? VIRTUAL.

    And what the fuck is that nurse doing and Asuka what the fuck were you doing at that time. Though granted Asuka was still unconscious during that time, but still, that goddamn nurse.

    I’m slowly turning into a Kirito x Asuna freak. This is dangerous.

  3. Overcooled says:

    Sinon should pick…neither of them!

    I have to admit it’s kind of nice to see at least a little bit of hinting at another possible pairing other than Kirito x Random Female. But Shinkawa rubs me the wrong way with how possessive and needy he is. I would be pretty creeped out out if a guy tried to confess to me like that. Sinon…just wait until you find someone who isn’t a trap or a weirdo. u_u

    It’s ridiculous how much everyone is lusting for Kirito and this episode really reminds us how legendary this dude’s harem is. Let’s get back to the ridiculous sword vs gun fighting now please…

    • Foshizzel says:

      Yep Shinkawa is the creeper best friend who wants to get with Sinon, but damn! There are better ways to go about it instead of forcing a hug and stalking her in GGO afterwards LOL

      That is the Kirito effect any females within inches of him are instantly attracted to him xD

  4. Highway says:

    I didn’t really care for Shinkawa’s Nice Guy (note caps) act / personality either. Even if you’ve totally got the hots for the girl, you don’t put that kind of pressure on her, you creep. Nothing good will come out of that.

    I didn’t have trouble with the flirty nurse. It’s not like she hasn’t been like that the whole time, and that’s one of those “she’s 10 years older than he is, she probably thinks it’s fun to flirt with a pretty good looking teenager” kind of things. She wasn’t super helpful as a life counselor, but there’s not a lot to say there. If Kirito continues to worry about it, he should go to an actual therapist, but I think it’s a lot more likely that he’ll bounce back again.

  5. Foshizzel says:

    Hooray another episode that follows emo Jesus Kirito-sama which leaves me like OMG BEST EPISODE EVER! I still have issues with the team re-writing his character on the fly to make him “better” after screwing up that up in SAO/ALO but I guess they realized they messed things up and are trying to fix them in GGO? Whatever one day I will get over it and move on…maybe…

    Also WOW Shinkawa was so damn CREEPY around Sinon…

    • BlackBriar says:

      Also WOW Shinkawa was so damn CREEPY around Sinon…

      The display was unsettling. The guy was borderline obsessed and possessive.

      • AllenAndArth says:

        borderline? he’s already past that, if he bothers her inside a game…it reminds me of Hinata from Naruto…super creepy

        • BlackBriar says:

          However, I don’t find Hinata fawning over Naruto creepy. Even though she followed him around as a child. Her shy nature made that easy to accept.

  6. skylion says:

    I found what Kirito was going through to be interesting. We all want to be seen, by ourselves and others, as good. Killing folk…well that is bad. And squaring away those two sides isn’t easy. And it’s important to realize that he killed out of necessity. It helps that the show really presented his opposition as human monsters, but still human.

    Shinkwawa was a well meaning douche. Still a douche though. Ah, callow youth.

    And hey, Klein is back! Maybe this is a guy Kirito could talk to about the whole Laughing Coffin Incident. And even if the Fairy Dance Arc was crap, I still like AOL.

    As far as “falling for the guy”. I don’t think Sinon has in that way. She’s pissed. That can either make her angry to the point of fail, or it can sharpen her edge. She does have a second chance against Kirito after all.

  7. BlackBriar says:

    It’s a true enough statement, and hopefully Kirito is over this occasion of emotional trauma now. After all, he did kill to save other’s lives. That probably counts for something.

    It is a hero cliché. A needless one in my opinion. Killing in general is bad but if someone harms you with the intent to kill, it’s your right to defend yourself. Deadly force, of course, is a last resort, it’s forced upon you so should the circumstance call for such an outcome, then that person is blameless. A veritable gray area.

    The difference between Kirito and the people he’s killed lie with their reasoning. “Why” is what separates one individual from the next. Those who kill simply for the sake of it are vile and not worth remembering. If it’s to protect yourself and those you care about, then it’s justifiable homicide. A case like that makes dirtying one’s hands a little bearable. They were Player Killers. Therefore, Kirito has no reason to burden himself with the memories of the scum he had to cut down.

    Shinkwawa’s method of getting Shino to notice him is off putting. He means well but the approach remains forceful, pushy. And there’s no hiding the fact part of his motivation is out of jealousy.

    • Karakuri says:

      I remember an intense religious debate I had in class back in elementary school about the topic. …Now that I think about it, it was a weirdly heavy topic for children but yeah, the consensus was that killing in situations like Kirito’s was okay. And this is coming from the Catholic school system.

      Man, Shinkawa is hard for me to write about, since I know what happens later in the arc. I keep getting episodes with him in there too OTL

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